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Football and beer, two main interests for many Panamanians, have come into conflict after the Baru-Panamá [es] brewery seized the bank accounts of the Panamanian Football Federation (FEPAFUT), demanding compensation of $7 million dollars for a breached contract.

This is not only bad, but terrible news for the Panamanian Football Federation, who dropped the bomb today that the Barú Brewery has seized the FEPAFUT for an amount more than six million dollars. Listen! This is no joke with money…

In Panama, beer consumption produces $390 million dollars annually, making the country one of the top producers and consumers in Latin America. According to Central América Data [es]:

The market is worth over $390 million per year and is controlled by two large companies: the National Brewery, a subsidiary of SabMiller, and the Barú-Panamá Brewery, under the control of Heineken N.V. Last year 247.2 million liters of beer were produced, 5.1% more than in 2010, a number far larger than that of seco (6 million liters) and rum (7.2 million liters), according to numbers from the General Accounting Office.

On the other hand, football has experienced rapid growth in Panama, attracting thousands of fans to matches to watch the Panamanian national team, which finds itself closer than ever to qualifying for the World Cup for the first time. FIFA [es] considers Panama the country that has experienced the most rapid progress in the area of CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football), as they comment on their website:

As far as Panama [es] goes, despite losing in the final, it came back to show it is the most rapidly progressing nation in the CONCACAF field, and it advanced to its second consecutive Under-17 world competition after having a few sensational matches.

The brewery had a contract until December 2014 with the principal football entity in Panama, but it was suspended in December 2012 when the Panamanian football federation signed a contract with the National Brewery for $10 million until 2018, (the contract with Barú was for $120,000 a year).

The confiscation became known when the members of the Panamanian Under-17 team, recently qualifying for the world cup in their category, tried to collect the prizes they won in the competition. La Prensa [es] quoted the President of the Panamanian Football Federation, Pedro Chaluja:

“We do not know the break down of these seven million dollars because they have not formally received the demand and we have not been notified. All we know is that there is a seizure, which we were able to notice when the Under-17 players could not collect their winning checks.”

Reactions on social networks waited for no one and many felt betrayed by the action taken by the Baru brewery.

George Haywood (@25haywood) [es] believes the seizure not only affects the federation but also Panamanians’ future:

@JacintoElias: @lilyvargastv A Contract is a Contract, Fepafut thought that since it was the qualifiers, the Panama brewery would not act. Panamanians like to have the upper hand

Cevecería Baru has come out in their defense posting a letter on their blog where they clarify that it is not their intention to affect football but rather negotiate [es] and find a figure that will be satisfactory for both parties.